


Origins

by suyari



Series: Vell Series [1]
Category: Young Avengers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avengers - Freeform, Gen, Skrulls - Freeform, Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-02
Updated: 2013-11-02
Packaged: 2017-12-31 06:02:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1028116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suyari/pseuds/suyari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A brief look into the early life of the superhero known as Hulkling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Origins

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Despite my deepest wishes, Young Avengers does not belong to me, and so, I can only borrow them.
> 
> Mrs. Altman is referred to in this series as Ayla.

There aren’t very many moments in one’s life that strike with the force of a lightning bolt. The kinds of memories that leave a scar – for better or worse. The perfect memory, complete and whole: Sights, sounds, smells, but most importantly _feelings_.

Teddy can count the number of memories he has that fall into this category on one hand.

He doesn’t remember much about his mother, Anelle. Sometimes he thinks he can almost smell her, at times he turns his head on a crowded street searching for a voice that sounded just like hers. Occasionally, between sleeping and waking, he can almost recall the feel of her arms around him. He doesn’t remember much about his mother, but he does remember the day they were separated. He was small then, he can’t recall how small, but he knows he was always carried, so he must have been very small. There were lights and sirens and his mother held him close as they ran. There were others with her. Two he knows, because they were the ones chosen to be his guardians. The rest are soldiers, royal guard.

“Protect your Emperor, Kl’rt, Ayla. I fear our people will have great need of him in the days to come.”

“Majesty, will you not come with us?”

“Escape now, Empress, while you can.”

“My people need me. I will remain. Take care of Dorrek.” She caressed his cheek and Teddy clutched her hand with both of his. “Bring him to his father. They will not take him from Mar-Vell.”

“Momma!”

“Be brave, my son. Grow strong. One day all the Empire will look to you. Do what is right, my little love. No matter what, always do what is right.”

He had tried to hold on as she pulled away, both arms stretching out for her, crying. Ayla clutched him close and Kl’rt followed behind, his back to them as he protected their escape.

“Momma!!!”

And then there is nothing but darkness.

He does not recall the trip, but sometimes he can remember the blue of the Earth as the sun burned bright far behind it. He knows it’s not something he’s seen in a movie because he can still feel the gentle hand to his shoulder. “Come see, my Emperor. This is your new home.”

The next memory that will be burned upon his soul forever is meeting his father for the first time.

He remembers being carried through marble halls, his clothes the itchy ceremonial kind that he’d never liked. He remembers there being several pairs of eyes on him. The feeling of tension that surrounded the group of costumed humans.

He can recall heated words between Kl’rt and several of the humans, but he didn’t know English then and he was unaware of why they were arguing. He couldn’t know that there was bad blood between his mother’s people and the guardians of this planet. He will never really be clear on just what it was his grandfather had done to make them hate them so.

He does remember them suddenly going quiet at the mention of his mother’s name. Ayla gently set him on the ground, taking his frightened arms from about her neck and turning him around by the shoulders. “Remember what your Mother said,” she’d coaxed him quietly. “Be brave, your Majesty.”

“…His Imperial Highness, Emperor Dorrek VIII.”

The first view he had of his father were his shins. The bright color of his uniform enticing Teddy to look up at him. He followed the colors up and up until he was gazing at a man so tall the back of his head rested between his shoulders.

They stared at one another for several moments; in different levels of shock he’s sure now. And then his father crouched down until Teddy didn’t have to crane his whole body to see him.

“Hello, Dorrek, I’m Mar-Vell.” He reached over and his fingers smoothed through Teddy’s blond hair. Teddy blinked as his thumb brushed his cheek and the tip of his index finger tapped the edge of his nose. “My poor son,” he murmured, mostly to himself. “So much Kree in you. It must have been very hard.”

Try as he might, Teddy never can remember if it was difficult or not. He was too young to know the difference, and his mother had ensured Kl’rt and Ayla were always with him wherever he went. He’s old enough to know by now no one would have ever dared say anything against his mother’s house with Kl’rt present, so perhaps there had been those who would never have accepted him. Had they any value for their lives, they would have kept it to themselves.

“I’m your father,” he had said, with a warm smile.

“Do you live here?” Teddy had asked with all the innocent wonder of a child in a new place.

“Sometimes,” he’d replied. “This is where my family is.”

The Avengers had, as far as Teddy could recall, accepted him with open arms. He has many fond memories of playing in the mansion. Running across the grounds and being taught things – some good, some not so good – by his father’s friendlier teammates. Always shadowed by Kl’rt and Ayla, who had taken on human disguises. It hadn’t been as hard as they’d thought to teach Teddy how to maintain his new body. From the moment he’d met him, Teddy wanted very much to be like his father, and with his heavily Kree features, the transition was very natural. Teddy can’t remember if his skin was ever green. It is now when he wants it to be, but it still feels…alien. Whenever it enters his mind, he does his best to ignore it. He is who he is, and that will never change.

His biological family had not been nearly as accepting of him as his father’s chosen one. Meeting his half-siblings being the third memory he’ll never be able to shake. For all that he looked Kree, Teddy could never shake the stigma of being half Skrull, especially as he always traveled with them. At first, Genis-Vell and Phyla-Vell , while not exactly enthusiastic about their father having another child, had at least smiled at him. They had even brought themselves to his level, Phyla-Vell taking his hands in hers and clutching them warmly. “Welcome, little brother,” she had said, and it was already reaching the limits of his beginning understanding of Kree. (Kl’rt had thrown a fit. His father had threatened something Teddy hadn’t been able to understand. Kl’rt had stared in horror for a moment, then grudgingly relented.) “Hello…sister,” he had said. She had smiled at him, and said something to their father, perhaps marking his accent. His brother had gotten upset that he knew so little of their language, thinking their father preferred to raise him of Earth, knowing only English. As they argued, Phyla-Vell took him aside and sat with him, trying to get him to talk to her. It had taken Teddy a long time to learn the little Kree he knew, and frustrated in not being able to communicate with his newfound family, he had slipped and responded to her in Skrullish.

The silence had been deafening. The tension quick to rise. He recalls his siblings both looking to their father, Phyla-Vell confused, Genis-Vell angry. Their father had taken Teddy by the hand and escorted him to the door, calling for Ayla to come take him away. At the first sight of his nanny, his older brother began to yell. It was all in Kree, but Teddy will never forget the rage behind it. He couldn’t be certain if Genis-Vell knew, or if he even suspected. Perhaps he was merely under the impression that a Skrull had joined the Avengers and their father was letting him leave with her. Whatever the prejudiced reason, his father had smiled at him, told him to go play, promised he’d see him soon and then closed the door.

Teddy hearing the sound of his siblings exit – it was hard to miss, honestly – had rushed to the window to wave goodbye to them, upset that they had already forgotten him, yet hopeful that they would turn around and wave back. His father had paused in the doorway and watched him. He can still remember the sigh he released before crossing the room and picking him up. “Dorrek, we have to talk.”

“Can I be named Vell too?” he had asked, clutching his father’s uniform and staring up at him with a measured look of excitement and anticipation.

He can recall the look in his father’s eyes. As if pride warred with sadness. He knows now that his father never wanted for him to be fully Kree. That a Kree name brought Kree attention. But he had sat down, set Teddy in his lap and they had discussed it. In the end, Teddy was Theo-Vell to the Kree, Dorrek VIII to the Skrull, and Teddy to the rest of the planet. If his father was ever concerned over Teddy getting a complex, he never said. Though Teddy is not quite certain it managed to have no effect on him whatsoever.

The fourth memory is the most important, because unlike the other three, it truly changed his life.

He had been on Earth long enough that he could no longer recall any of his life before it. He had no memories of the Throneworld, or of travel through space. He did not recall the look of either a Skrull or Kree ship. And for all that he had learned Kree and been initially raised in Skrullish, it was English that had truly won.

He still isn’t sure how many years it had been since his introduction to the planet – and he still does not care to – but he was five years old when it happened. His father had told him before of the families of other Avengers, but he hadn’t met very many. It was difficult enough for a child to keep so many secrets, the Avengers likely feared it would be dangerous for everyone if they knew any more. When he learned there was going to be a birthday party at the mansion, he was very excited. He was finally going to meet other kids! Other kids like him! With mommies and daddies who did very important secret work for the world. Other kids who knew what it felt like to be worried when their Daddy or Mommy walked out the door. Who knew how scary it could be when they went away to space or another dimension. Other kids who he could talk to about having a parent with super powers, and be proud for once that everyone knew.

Teddy was so excited about the birthday party, he could hardly sleep. So excited in fact that he hardly ate. He counted down the days to the party by marking big red ‘X’s as they passed. Bouncing on the balls of his feet as each day grew closer to the circled one on the calendar, until it arrived.

It was hard to hold his father’s hand and walk that day, he recalls. The energy building up in his chest so greatly he thought he might burst if he didn’t run. But being so young, and with his heritage leaving him so very strong, his father had insisted he stay beside him as much as possible. Teddy understands now how very many things could have gone wrong, but at the time, all he wanted more than anything was to play with the others as equals. He wasn’t going to be an emperor. He wasn’t going to be the son of the great Mar-Vell. He was just another kid, at a REAL birthday party with real other kids!!!

His father held his hand securely as he weaved in different directions, taking it all in. The balloons and the streamers and the pile of presents, and _there were other **kids**_!!!

“Theo-Vell,” his father had said sternly – in what Teddy has taken to calling his ‘Captain’s Voice’.

Teddy had pressed into his side, deflating in disappointment.

“We have to greet our hosts first, and then you can play.”

He’d perked at that, excitement rekindling and happily skipped along as they crossed the large yard over to where a group of heroes had gathered.

“Wanda,” his father had greeted. “Pietro.”

“Mar-Vell, thank you for coming.” She excused herself from the other adults and moved around the table so she could hug Teddy. “Teddy, thank you for coming. The boys will be very happy.”

“Thank you for inviting us.”

At his father’s gentle nudge Teddy said, “Thank you.”

Wanda smiled at him, dropping her hand into his hair as she stood. “Billy! Tommy! Come here, please. I want you to meet someone.”

“ _Again?!_ ” came a whine. “ _Moooom!_ ”

“Thomas Maximoff! You come over here and greet your guests or you won’t get any cake.”

“But it’s our birthday!” Tommy cried petulantly.

He must have been moving though, because he didn’t get yelled at again.

Wanda’s hands went behind her, each settling behind a back as the twins appeared on either side of her. “William, Thomas, this is Theodore.” She smiled at Teddy. “Teddy, these are my sons, the birthday boys, Billy and Tommy.”

“Hi,” said the one on the right, with a wave.

“Hey,” said the one on the left. He looked up at his mother. “Can we go play now?”

Wanda sighed. “Fine, go play. But don’t forget to greet people and thank them for coming when they talk to you.”

“Okay,” he replied, reaching across her to take the other boy’s hand. “Come on, Billy.”

“I mean it. Be nice to people, Thomas. It may be your birthday, but I am still your mother. And if you misbehave, I can still punish you.”

“Geez,” he grumbled. “We _know_ , Mom!” He started to move, but paused when his brother didn’t follow. “Billy, come on!” he said, giving his arm a tug.

“Do you want to play?” Billy asked Teddy.

Teddy clutched his father’s hand and half hid behind his leg.

“It’s all right, Teddy,” his father coaxed. “You can play with them.”

Teddy pressed into his father’s side.

“Come on, Billy.”

“You go,” he said, taking his hand from his brother’s.

Tommy squinted at Teddy and crossed his arms.

Billy held out his hand. “Come on, Teddy. Come play with us.”

Tommy’s eyebrows rose and Billy paused, and Teddy was rather mortified when he realized that the reason they were staring was because his features were shifting: Skin growing green, size shrinking.

“Wow, are you a mutant?!” asked a little girl with pigtails. Where she had come from, Teddy didn’t know, but now he was well and truly surrounded.

“He can’t be a mutant,” Tommy huffed. “He’s not big enough.”

“You don’t know!” argued the little girl.

“I do too know!” he replied. “My whole family is mutants! And me and Billy are gonna be mutants too when we grow up so there!”

“Thomas,” Wanda said.

Billy sighed. “Guys, stop fighting.”

“Tommy _started_ it!”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“Shouldn’t you be _counting_?” Tommy snapped back.

“It’s ‘cause they look the same, right?” Cassie asked Teddy, ignoring him. “It’s okay, they’re a lot different on the inside. If you play with us, you can tell ‘em apart real fast.” She leaned in and whispered. “Tommy’s the mean one.”

Tommy ‘the mean one’ went red, but his brother smiled, as if he were trying not to laugh.

“He’s bossy too,” she continued.

Tommy stomped his foot and grabbed his brother’s arm, tugging him to storm off with him. Billy smiled at Teddy again and then put his arm around his brother and followed.

“Stupid girls…” grumbled Tommy.

“I am _not_ a stupid girl!” Cassie shrieked, charging off after them.

“Am I the only one still playing?!” cried a dark skinned boy, trotting out toward the group. When he was ignored, he turned to look in the direction they were coming from. “Hey! Kid!” He trotted over, and Teddy realized he was a whole lot smaller than he looked. Even the little girl looked bigger than him, if just by a little.

“I’m not ‘kid’. My name is Teddy.”

“Teddy, yeah. You wanna play? Tommy’s being all grumpy so of course that means we have to _stop_.” He rolled his eyes. “ _Real_ Avengers don’t throw tantrums.”

Wanda laughed so softly Teddy almost didn’t hear.

“I’m Eli. My Grandpa used to be Captain America.”

“My dad’s Captain Marvel.”

Eli looked up at Teddy’s father and nodded. “Come on,” he said, taking Teddy by the hand. “Come play with us. Tommy will get over it fast. He always does.”

Teddy looked up at his father, who smiled and gave him a gentle nudge. He let go of him slowly and followed Eli to the other kids.

Tommy was already over it, and running across the grounds with Cassie chasing him. She was waving a stick and he kept calling her names over his shoulder. Teddy hoped she actually caught him.

“Hi,” said Billy as he and Eli sat down.

Teddy felt suddenly shy again and looked down at his clasped hands.

“I’m Billy,” he said, as if Teddy already couldn’t tell the difference.

“I know,” he mumbled.

Billy beamed, bouncing up. “Come on, let’s play Avengers!” He grabbed Teddy’s hand and tugged. Teddy looked up at him. All blue eyes and dark hair and big, big smile.

“…Okay.”

Billy hugged him. Quick and fast and excited, but it was a hug Teddy would never forget. He picked up a rolled up paper and held it over his head. “I AM THOR! ALL HAIL MY MIGHTY HAMMER!!”

Several of the grownups laughed, including, Teddy noticed, Thor.

Eli got up and picked up a piece of cardboard, holding it out in front of him. “I’m Captain America!”

They both looked to Teddy. Teddy had never played with other kids before. He didn’t know how. But they were looking at him, so he did the first thing that came to his mind. He shifted, skin going green, and growing a whole size.

“Hey, you’re Hulk! That’s so coooool!”

“I’m Hulk!” Teddy echoed. “Umm…ROAR!”

“SMAAAAASH!!!” cried Billy and Eli.

“SMASH!” Teddy corrected himself.

Eli jumped onto a rock and held his cardboard shield up high over his head.

“AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!!!!”

Kids came running out of everywhere it seemed. With pieces of this and that, all ready to fight the imaginary fight. Eli gave a yell and they all charged across the grass.

It was the first best day of Teddy’s life.


End file.
